Jigendo Temple 慈眼堂

Official explanation

The Jigendo Temple at Korakuen is located near the western end of the tea plantation and was constructed in 1697 by Ikeda Tsunamasa (1638–1714). It was dedicated to peace and stability among members of the Ikeda family and harmonious relations with the people of the Okayama castle town.

The entrance to the temple was once flanked by two 110-centimeter Nio guardian statues. The statues were restored in 2000 and moved into the permanent collection of the Okayama Prefectural Museum. The temple hall, currently empty, once enshrined two statues: a 1-meter-high and a 50-centimeter-high statue of Kannon, bodhisattva of compassion. After the transfer of the garden to Okayama Prefecture in 1884, the statues were returned to the Ikeda family and are now kept in two different temples in Okayama.

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Although the main temple building is empty, some original features can still be found in the temple compound. One is the 4-meter high Eboshi-iwa, a composite rock in the shape of an eboshi, the tall, rounded headgear traditionally worn by members of the Heian court (794–1185). Similar in composition to the garden’s Odateishi Stone, the Eboshi-iwa consists of 36 pieces of granite that were once a single stone.

出典: 地域観光資源の多言語解説文データベース（観光庁） — www.mlit.go.jp/tagengo-db. この英語解説文は観光庁の地域観光資源の多言語解説整備支援事業で作成しました。
Source: Japan Tourism Agency, Multilingual Explanation Database. This English text was produced by the Japan Tourism Agency's multilingual explanation project and is shown unedited. Opening hours and services may have changed since it was written.